Select Local Merchants

For more than 20 years, Yoga Connection's classes have focused on stretching, strengthening, and breathing techniques?but founder and director Priscilla Potter isn't afraid of yoga's more holistic side, either. When she's not teaching, she's an astrologer and a meditation instructor, and her multifaceted perspective on yoga shines through in the studio's schedule. Sessions range from bouts of yin yoga to chakra yoga, which explores the body's seven energy centers.

A health-and-fitness club specializing in self-defense and martial arts, X1 mentors budding grapplers in the ways of personal protection with an emphasis on physical fitness. Kids' classes in self-defense and MMA hip-throw mat rats ages 5–14 into a safe, friendly environment where they can exercise, sharpen motor skills, and practice finishing moves on mannequins and scarecrows. Through the guidance of professional trainers, youngsters learn techniques from multiple disciplines, including kickboxing, muay thai, and wrestling, while experiencing cardio-training programs adopted by top MMA fighters. Kids can dropkick into any of the classes, which run from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The gym supplies all necessary equipment, such as pads and a stadium full of cheering stuffed animals, and this Groupon covers the $40 initiation fee.

Over the last three decades, dance guru Kathryn Ferguson has dedicated her career to practicing and teaching the art of belly dancing. First exposed to the form in Casablanca, Morocco, Kathryn continues to put her own spin on belly dancing’s traditional hip shakes and tummy undulations, releasing a series of instructional video tapes and leading classes in her Tucson studio. These Egyptian- and Lebanese-style belly-dancing classes accommodate beginning and intermediate dancers looking to get in shape or shake up the annual family-reunion talent show. The studio's bright yellow walls create an upbeat environment, and full-length mirrors allow them to check for proper form and keep tabs on emerging six packs. In addition to teaching classes at Xanadu Dance Studio, Kathryn also helms the Xanadu Dancers Troupe, which performs regularly at dance- and music-focused events such as the Mediterranean Nights gala.

Named the Best Place to Take a Dance Class in 2012 by Tucson Lifestyle magazine, Shall We Dance boasts experienced instructors that help instill dancing wisdom and undeniable rhythm in people looking to twirl and sidestep across the studio’s hardwood floor. Students pair up during group dance lessons or work one-on-one with instructors during private lessons as they are shown how to gracefully execute an arsenal of dance steps in styles such as salsa, Argentinean tango, swing, and waltz. The studio also offers weekly dance parties (held Friday nights from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.), which provide a casual setting for students to practice with different dance partners, ready couples for weddings, or prep solo dancers for musical housecleaning sessions.

When discussing the teaching philosophy at Tucson Pole Fitness, founder Jessica McCain explained to reporters of Tucson Weekly, “Our goal is not just to teach you fancy tricks. Our goal is to help you lose weight and get fit. Along the way, you learn new things.” Among them, fancy new tricks. Jessica and her staff of fellow instructors conduct a variety of fat-blasting, fitness-infused pole-dancing classes on the towering gold poles of their private studio, interspersing routines of spins, tricks, and climbs with high-intensity strength and conditioning exercises. Other classes focus more on the pure artistry of the form, creating routines and honing technique. In addition to Tucson Pole Fitness’s bread and butter, the instructors lead lap-dancing sessions and striptease workshops, ideal for injecting a little spice into relationships or seducing your favorite football team’s mascot.

Urban Athletics' experienced instructors and professional motivators, Paul Rose and Naomi Reed, have over 28 years of combined fitness and fat-burning pyrotechnics experience, which gets flexed to the fullest with the Express Performance package. The boot camp's six intense fitness classes will burn up to 700 calories per session with a hard-hitting, constantly changing workout regimen packed with surprises and shocking plot twists, as new exercises are assigned without warning and characters long thought dead make dramatic reappearances just before the session ends. Each 60-minute workout is designed for all fitness levels, ages, and shoe sizes.